Golden Touch, a subsidiary of Transdev North America, will deploy the buses at John F. Kennedy International Airport to support the expansion of Delta Air Lines’ JFK Jitney Shuttle service that Golden Touch operates.

Staff informed the board that this is intended to be the last diesel bus purchase that SamTrans will make because the Transit District would eventually like to convert its current fleet to electric buses in the future.

The Anniston, Ala., facility now joins all other New Flyer locations with capability to manufacture the Xcelsior CHARGE™ battery-electric bus, including Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Crookston and St. Cloud, Minn.

The buses will be deployed in the City of Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs of Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester, supporting four million people living in and around southeastern Pennsylvania.

Twenty-eight 40-foot buses will replace existing buses in the NICE fleet that have reached the end of their useful life, while five 60-foot buses will be used on the customer's new bus rapid transit line, scheduled to start service in 2017.

The contract for this new order of XD40’s is valued at approximately $46.8 million and will be used to replace some of METRO’s transit buses that have reached the end of their useful life. Delivery of these buses is planned for 2018.